Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

A thief got into a beekeeper's property when its owner was away and stole
the honeycombs. When the owner came back and saw that the beehives were
empty, he stood there puzzling over what had happened. The bees then came
back from their pastures and when they found the beekeeper there, they
attacked him fiercely with their stings. The beekeeper said to the bees,
'You wretched creatures! You let the man who stole your honeycombs get
away with impunity while you direct your rage at me, the very person who
takes care of you!' So too there are people who foolishly leave themselves unprotected
against their enemies and push their friends away as if those friends
were plotting against them.

Source:
Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura
Gibbs.
Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New
cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.